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Minnesota Music Notes celebrating noteworthy songs, artists, and musical performances

Minnesota Music Notes: Stories from First Avenue | celebrating noteworthy artists, people and moments that shaped the history of Minnesota’s Mainroom First Avenue

Minnesota Music Notes: Seasons 1 & 2 | celebrating noteworthy songs, artists, and musical performances from Minnesota

MN Music Notes: Keith Secola

Born and raised in Cook, Minnesota on the Boise Forte Reservation, musician Keith Secola has an intimate relationship with Anishinabe culture.  Producer Daniel Zamzow looks at the genre Secola calls “Native Americana” is a musical journey that spans the past, present, and future.

Dan Corrigan’s Big Picture

Dan Corrigan’s first photographic assignment at First Avenue/7th Street Entry in 1981 wouldn’t be his last. Not by a long shot. Britt Aamodt’s piece examines the photographer who captured a lifetime of Minnesota music.


The Bride and Groom Wore Black

Lucinda Williams had played First Avenue before. But this night was special. Britt Aamodt reports on the wedding of the country star with her Minnesota beau before a packed Mainroom audience in September 2009.

Mainroom Memories

Chris Riemenschneider, music critic at the Star Tribune, couldn’t believe no one had written a history of First Avenue. So he wrote one. Here is Britt Aamodt on Riemenschneider’s First Avenue: Minnesota’s Mainroom.


Mad Dogs, English Joe and the Depot

Woodstock breakout Joe Cocker had just come off a U.S. tour and really needed a break. But his North American manager had different ideas. Britt Aamodt has the story of the first live performance at the Depot, the Minneapolis club opened in 1970 that would later become First Avenue.

Nirvana at the Entry

Nirvana had just come from a recording studio in Madison, Wisconsin, where the group made initial steps to record songs for a second album. Now, April 9, 1990, they were playing Minneapolis’ 7th Street Entry. Britt Aamodt offers a snapshot of the Seattle band on their way up, the year before their second album, Nevermind, went supernova.

First Avenue Love Story

Mark Wojahn, artist and filmmaker, had been coming to First Avenue/Entry shows since he was in high school. But then in 1992 at a Buffalo Tom—or was it Beastie Boys?—concert in the Mainroom, he saw her. Who was she? Britt Aamodt shares Mark Wojahn’s First Avenue love story.

Bob Stinson Gets Replaced

By 1986, the Replacements had played First Avenue and the Entry more times than they could count. They’d grown up—as men and as musicians—there. Now they had to let one of their own go. Britt Aamodt has the story of guitarist Bob Stinson’s last hometown gig with the band.

The Time Debuts “Jungle Love” and “The Bird”

In 1983, The Time brought in a crew to record their concert at First Avenue. Producer Britt Aamodt takes a look at the Minneapolis R&B and funk band the year before Purple Rain made them international stars, and how one of those live First Ave recordings made it onto the fim’s soundtrack.

REM Gets Bumped to the Mainroom

REM had yet to release an album. They were touring the U.S. on the strength of their first single, “Radio Free Europe”, and here they were in Minneapolis for a show at Sam’s (later First Avenue) on Thanksgiving in a blizzard. Britt Aamodt finds out what happened to the up-and-coming band when the headliner canceled.

Chrissie Dunlap Meets the Godfather of Soul

He was the Godfather of Soul. Now First Avenue’s office manager Chrissie Dunlap had to tell him he was late hitting the stage. Britt Aamodt shares Dunlap’s encounter with James Brown.

Supported by...

McKnight FoundationMN Legacy